Wheat variety 26R87

ABSTRACT

A wheat variety designated 26R87, the plants and seeds of wheat variety 26R87, methods for producing a wheat plant produced by crossing the variety 26R87 with another wheat plant, and hybrid wheat seeds and plants produced by crossing the variety 26R87 with another wheat line or plant, and the creation of variants by mutagenesis or transformation of variety 26R87. This invention also relates to methods for producing other wheat varieties or breeding lines derived from wheat variety 26R87 and to wheat varieties or breeding lines produced by those methods.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention is in the field of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) breeding,specifically relating to a wheat variety designated 26R87.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Wheat is grown worldwide and is the most widely adapted cereal. Thereare five main wheat market classes. They include the four common wheat(Triticum aestivum L.) classes: matthiashard red winter, hard redspring, soft red winter, and white. The fifth class is durum (Triticumturgidum L.). Common wheats are used in a variety of food products suchas bread, cookies, cakes, crackers, and noodles. In general the hardwheat classes are milled into flour used for breads and the soft wheatclasses are milled into flour used for pastries and crackers. Wheatstarch is used in the food and paper industries, as laundry starches,and in other products. Because of its use in baking, the grain qualityof wheat is very important. To test the grain quality of wheat for useas flour, milling properties are analyzed. Important milling propertiesare relative hardness or softness, weight per bushel of wheat (testweight), siftability of the flour, break flour yield, middlings flouryield, total flour yield, flour ash content, and wheat-to-flour proteinconversion. Good processing quality for flour is also important. Goodquality characteristics for flour from soft wheats include low tomedium-low protein content, a low water absorption, production oflarge-diameter test cookies and large volume cakes. Wheat glutenins andgliadins, which together confer the properties of elasticity andextensibility, play an important role in the grain quality. Changes inquality and quantity of these proteins change the end product for whichthe wheat can be used.

The present invention relates to a new and distinctive wheat variety,designated 26R87 which has been the result of years of careful breedingand selection as part of a wheat breeding program. There are numeroussteps in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. Plantbreeding begins with the analysis and definition of problems andweaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishment of program goals,and the definition of specific breeding objectives. The next step isselection of germplasm that possess the traits to meet the programgoals. The goal is to combine in a single variety an improvedcombination of desirable traits from the parental germplasm. Theseimportant traits may include higher seed yield, resistance to diseasesand insects, tolerance to drought and heat, improved grain quality, andbetter agronomic qualities.

Field crops are bred through techniques that take advantage of theplant's method of pollination. A plant is self-pollinated if pollen fromone flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the sameplant. A plant is sib-pollinated when individuals within the same familyor line are used for pollination. A plant is cross-pollinated if thepollen comes from a flower on a different plant from a different familyor line. The term cross-pollination herein does not includeself-pollination or sib-pollination. Wheat plants (Triticum aestivumL.), are recognized to be naturally self-pollinated plants which, whilecapable of undergoing cross-pollination, rarely do so in nature. Thusintervention for control of pollination is critical to the establishmentof superior varieties.

A cross between two different homozygous lines produces a uniformpopulation of hybrid plants that may be heterozygous for many gene loci.A cross of two heterozygous plants each that differ at a number of geneloci will produce a population of plants that differ genetically andwill not be uniform. Regardless of parentage, plants that have beenself-pollinated and selected for type for many generations becomehomozygous at almost all gene loci and produce a uniform population oftrue breeding progeny. The term “homozygous plant” is hereby defined asa plant with homozygous genes at 95% or more of its loci. The term“inbred” as used herein refers to a homozygous plant or a collection ofhomozygous plants.

Choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plantreproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and thetype of variety used commercially (e.g., F1 hybrid variety, purelinevariety, etc.). For highly heritable traits, a choice of superiorindividual plants evaluated at a single location will be effective,whereas for traits with low heritability, selection should be based onmean values obtained from replicated evaluations of families of relatedplants. Popular selection methods commonly include pedigree selection,modified pedigree selection, mass selection, and recurrent selection.

The complexity of inheritance influences choice of the breeding method.In general breeding starts with the crossing of two genotypes (a“breeding cross”), each of which may have one or more desirablecharacteristics that is lacking in the other or which complements theother. If the two original parents do not provide all the desiredcharacteristics, other sources can be included by making more crosses.In each successive filial generation, F1→F2; F2→F3; F3→F4; F4→F5, etc.,plants are selfed to increase the homozygosity of the line. Typically ina breeding program five or more generations of selection and selfing arepracticed to obtain a homozygous plant.

Pedigree breeding is commonly used for the improvement ofself-pollinating crops. Two parents that possess favorable,complementary traits are crossed to produce an F1. An F2 population isproduced by selfing or sibbing one or several F1's. Selection of thebest individuals may begin in the F2 population; then, beginning in theF3, the best individuals in the best families are selected. Replicatedtesting of families can begin in the F4 generation to improve theeffectiveness of selection for traits with low heritability. At anadvanced stage of inbreeding (i.e., F5, F6 and F7), the best lines ormixtures of phenotypically similar lines are tested for potentialrelease as new varieties.

Backcross breeding has been used to transfer genes for simply inherited,qualitative, traits from a donor parent into a desirable homozygousvariety that is utilized as the recurrent parent. The source of thetraits to be transferred is called the donor parent. After the initialcross, individuals possessing the desired trait or traits of the donorparent are selected and then repeatedly crossed (backcrossed) to therecurrent parent. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributesof the recurrent parent (e.g., variety) plus the desirable trait ortraits transferred from the donor parent. This approach has been usedextensively for breeding disease resistant varieties.

Each wheat breeding program should include a periodic, objectiveevaluation of the efficiency of the breeding procedure. Evaluationcriteria vary depending on the goal and objectives, but should includegain from selection per year based on comparisons to an appropriatestandard, overall value of the advanced breeding lines, and number ofsuccessful varieties produced per unit of input (e.g., per year, perdollar expended, etc.).

Various recurrent selection techniques are used to improvequantitatively inherited traits controlled by numerous genes. The use ofrecurrent selection in self-pollinating crops depends on the ease ofpollination and the number of hybrid offspring from each successfulcross. Recurrent selection can be used to improve populations of eitherself- or cross-pollinated crops. A genetically variable population ofheterozygous individuals is either identified or created byintercrossing several different parents. The best plants are selectedbased on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, or excellentcombining ability. The selected plants are intercrossed to produce a newpopulation in which further cycles of selection are continued. Plantsfrom the populations can be selected and selfed to create new varieties.

Another breeding method is single-seed descent. This procedure in thestrict sense refers to planting a segregating population, harvesting asample of one seed per plant, and using the one-seed sample to plant thenext generation. When the population has been advanced from the F2 tothe desired level of inbreeding, the plants from which lines are derivedwill each trace to different F2 individuals. The number of plants in apopulation declines each generation due to failure of some seeds togerminate or some plants to produce at least one seed. As a result, notall of the F2 plants originally sampled in the population will berepresented by a progeny when generation advance is completed. In amultiple-seed procedure, wheat breeders commonly harvest one or morespikes (heads) from each plant in a population and thresh them togetherto form a bulk. Part of the bulk is used to plant the next generationand part is put in reserve. The procedure has been referred to asmodified single-seed descent. The multiple-seed procedure has been usedto save labor at harvest. It is considerably faster to thresh spikeswith a machine than to remove one seed from each by hand for thesingle-seed procedure. The multiple-seed procedure also makes itpossible to plant the same number of seeds of a population eachgeneration of inbreeding. Enough seeds are harvested to make up forthose plants that did not germinate or produce seed.

Bulk breeding can also be used. In the bulk breeding method an F2population is grown. The seed from the populations is harvested in bulkand a sample of the seed is used to make a planting the next season.This cycle can be repeated several times. In general when individualplants are expected to have a high degree of homozygosity, individualplants are selected, tested, and increased for possible use as avariety.

Molecular markers including techniques such as Starch GelElectrophoresis, Isozyme Electrophoresis, Restriction Fragment LengthPolymorphisms (RFLPs), Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs),Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR), DNA AmplificationFingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (SCARs),Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), Simple Sequence Repeats(SSRs), and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) may be used in plantbreeding methods. One use of molecular markers is Quantitative TraitLoci (QTL) mapping. QTL mapping is the use of markers, which are knownto be closely linked to alleles that have measurable effects on aquantitative trait. Selection in the breeding process is based upon theaccumulation of markers linked to the positive effecting alleles and/orthe elimination of the markers linked to the negative effecting allelesfrom the plant's genome.

Molecular markers can also be used during the breeding process for theselection of qualitative traits. For example, markers closely linked toalleles or markers containing sequences within the actual alleles ofinterest can be used to select plants that contain the alleles ofinterest during a backcrossing breeding program. The markers can also beused to select for the genome of the recurrent parent and against themarkers of the donor parent. Using this procedure can minimize theamount of genome from the donor parent that remains in the selectedplants. It can also be used to reduce the number of crosses back to therecurrent parent needed in a backcrossing program (Openshaw et al.Marker-assisted Selection in Backcross Breeding. In: ProceedingsSymposium of the Analysis of Molecular Marker Data, 5-6 Aug. 1994, pp.41-43. Crop Science Society of America, Corvallis, Oreg.). The use ofmolecular markers in the selection process is often called GeneticMarker Enhanced Selection.

The production of double haploids can also be used for the developmentof homozygous lines in the breeding program. Double haploids areproduced by the doubling of a set of chromosomes (1N) from aheterozygous plant to produce a completely homozygous individual. Thiscan be advantageous because the process omits the generations of selfingneeded to obtain a homozygous plant from a heterozygous source. Variousmethodologies of making double haploid plants in wheat have beendeveloped (Laurie, D. A. and S. Reymondie, Plant Breeding, 1991, v.106:182-189. Singh, N. et al., Cereal Research Communications, 2001, v.29:289-296; Redha, A. et al., Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture, 2000,v. 63:167-172; U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,393).

Though pure-line varieties are the predominate form of wheat grown forcommercial wheat production hybrid wheat is also used. Hybrid wheats areproduced with the help of cytoplasmic male sterility, nuclear geneticmale sterility, or chemicals. Various combinations of these three malesterility systems have been used in the production of hybrid wheat.

Descriptions of other breeding methods that are commonly used fordifferent traits and crops can be found in one of several referencebooks (e.g., Allard, Principles of Plant Breeding, 1960; Simmonds,Principles of Crop Improvement, 1979; editor Heyne, Wheat and WheatImprovement, 1987; Allan, “Wheat”, Chapter 18, Principles of CropDevelopment, vol. 2, Fehr editor, 1987).

Promising advanced breeding lines are thoroughly tested and compared toappropriate standards in environments representative of the commercialtarget area(s). The best lines are candidates for new commercialvarieties; those still deficient in a few traits may be used as parentsto produce new populations for further selection.

A most difficult task is the identification of individuals that aregenetically superior, because for most traits the true genotypic valueis masked by other confounding plant traits or environmental factors.One method of identifying a superior genotype is to observe itsperformance relative to other experimental genotypes and to a widelygrown standard variety. Generally a single observation is inconclusive,so replicated observations are required to provide a better estimate ofits genetic worth.

A breeder uses various methods to help determine which plants should beselected from the segregating populations and ultimately which lineswill be used for commercialization. In addition to the knowledge of thegermplasm and other skills the breeder uses, a part of the selectionprocess is dependent on experimental design coupled with the use ofstatistical analysis. Experimental design and statistical analysis areused to help determine which plants, which family of plants, and finallywhich lines are significantly better or different for one or more traitsof interest. Experimental design methods are used to control error sothat differences between two lines can be more accurately determined.Statistical analysis includes the calculation of mean values,determination of the statistical significance of the sources ofvariation, and the calculation of the appropriate variance components.Five and one percent significance levels are customarily used todetermine whether a difference that occurs for a given trait is real ordue to the environment or experimental error.

Plant breeding is the genetic manipulation of plants. The goal of wheatbreeding is to develop new, unique and superior wheat varieties. Inpractical application of a wheat breeding program, the breeder initiallyselects and crosses two or more parental lines, followed by repeatedselfing and selection, producing many new genetic combinations. Thebreeder can theoretically generate billions of different geneticcombinations via crossing, selfing and mutations. The breeder has nodirect control at the cellular level. Therefore, two breeders will neverdevelop exactly the same line.

Each year, the plant breeder selects the germplasm to advance to thenext generation. This germplasm is grown under unique and differentgeographical, climatic and soil conditions, and further selections arethen made during and at the end of the growing season.

Proper testing should detect major faults and establish the level ofsuperiority or improvement over current varieties. In addition toshowing superior performance, there must be a demand for a new variety.The new variety must be compatible with industry standards, or mustcreate a new market. The introduction of a new variety may incuradditional costs to the seed producer, the grower, processor andconsumer, for special advertising and marketing, altered seed andcommercial production practices, and new product utilization. Thetesting preceding release of a new variety should take intoconsideration research and development costs as well as technicalsuperiority of the final variety. It must also be feasible to produceseed easily and economically.

These processes, which lead to the final step of marketing anddistribution, can take from six to twelve years from the time the firstcross is made. Therefore, development of new varieties is atime-consuming process that requires precise forward planning, efficientuse of resources, and a minimum of changes in direction.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), is an important and valuable field crop.Thus, a continuing goal of wheat breeders is to develop stable, highyielding wheat varieties that are agronomically sound and have goodgrain quality for its intended use. To accomplish this goal, the wheatbreeder must select and develop wheat plants that have the traits thatresult in superior varieties.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to the invention, there is provided a novel wheat variety,designated 26R87. This invention thus relates to the seeds of wheatvariety 26R87, to the plants of wheat variety 26R87 and to methods forproducing a wheat plant produced by crossing wheat variety 26R87 withanother wheat plant, and the creation of variants by mutagenesis ortransformation of wheat 26R87. This invention relates to transgenicbackcross conversions of wheat variety 26R87. This invention alsorelates to methods for developing other wheat varieties or breedinglines derived from wheat variety 26R87 and to wheat varieties orbreeding lines produced by those methods. Wheat variety 26R87demonstrates a unique combination of traits including outstanding yieldpotential and test weight, excellent lodging resistance, excellentresistance to leaf rust and to stripe rust, and very good resistance topowdery mildew.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

A wheat variety needs to be highly homogeneous, homozygous andreproducible to be useful as a commercial variety. There are manyanalytical methods available to determine the homozygotic stability,phenotypic stability, and identity of these varieties.

The oldest and most traditional method of analysis is the observation ofphenotypic traits. The data is usually collected in field experimentsover the life of the wheat plants to be examined. Phenotypiccharacteristics most often observed are for traits such as seed yield,head configuration, glume configuration, seed configuration, lodgingresistance, disease resistance, maturity, etc.

In addition to phenotypic observations, the genotype of a plant can alsobe examined. There are many laboratory-based techniques available forthe analysis, comparison and characterization of plant genotype; amongthese are Gel Electrophoresis, Isozyme Electrophoresis, RestrictionFragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Randomly Amplified PolymorphicDNAs (RAPDs), Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR), DNAAmplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence Characterized AmplifiedRegions (SCARs), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), SimpleSequence Repeats (SSRs) which are also referred to as Microsatellites,and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). Gel electrophoresis isparticularly useful in wheat. Wheat variety identification is possiblethrough electrophoresis of gliadin, glutenin, albumin and globulin, andtotal protein extracts (Bietz, J. A., pp. 216-228, “Genetic andBiochemical Studies of Nonenzymatic Endosperm Proteins” In Wheat andWheat Improvement, ed. E. G. Heyne, 1987).

The variety of the invention has shown uniformity and stability for alltraits, as described in the following variety description information.It has been self-pollinated a sufficient number of generations, withcareful attention to uniformity of plant type to ensure homozygosity andphenotypic stability. The line has been increased with continuedobservation for uniformity. No variant traits have been observed or areexpected in 26R87, as described in Table 1 (Variety DescriptionInformation).

Wheat variety 26R87 is a common, soft red winter wheat. Variety 26R87demonstrates outstanding yield potential, outstanding test weight,excellent lodging resistance, excellent resistance to leaf rust,excellent resistance to stripe rust, and very good resistance to powderymildew. Variety 26R87 is particularly adapted to the Southeastern andMid-Southern soft wheat region of the United States.

Wheat variety 26R87, being substantially homozygous, can be reproducedby planting seeds of the line, growing the resulting wheat plants underself-pollinating or sib-pollinating conditions, and harvesting theresulting seed, using techniques familiar to the agricultural arts.

Definitions for Area of Adaptability

When referring to area of adaptability, such term is used to describethe location with the environmental conditions that would be well suitedfor this wheat variety. Area of adaptability is based on a number offactors, for example: days to heading, winter hardiness, insectresistance, disease resistance, and drought resistance. Area ofadaptability does not indicate that the wheat variety will grow in everylocation within the area of adaptability or that it will not growoutside the area.

-   Northern area=States of DE, IL, IN, MI, MO, NJ, NY, OH, PA, WI and    Ontario, Canada-   Mid-south=States of AR, KY, MO bootheel and TN-   Southeast=States of NC, SC, and VA-   Deep South=States of AL, GA, LA, and MS

TABLE 1 VARIETY DESCRIPTION INFORMATION 26R87 1. KIND: 1 1 = Common 2 =Durum 3 = Club 4 = Other 2. VERNALIZATION: 2 1 = Spring 2 = Winter 3 =Other 3 COLEOPTILE ANTHOCYANIN: 1 1 = Absent 2 = Present 4. JUVENILEPLANT GROWTH: 2 1 = Prostrate 2 = Semi-erect 3 = Erect 5. PLANT COLOR(boot stage): 2 1 = Yellow-Green 2 = Green 3 = Blue-Green 6. FLAG LEAF(boot stage): 1 1 = Erect 2 = Recurved FLAG LEAF (boot stage): 2 1 = NotTwisted 2 = Twisted FLAG LEAF (boot stage): 2 1 = Wax Absent 2 = WaxPresent 7. EAR EMERGENCE: Average 113 Days after January 1^(st) Average5 Days Earlier than variety 2552 8. ANTHER COLOR: 1 1 = Yellow 2 =Purple 9. PLANT HEIGHT (from soil to top of head, excluding awns): 92 cm 1 cm Shorter than 2552 10. STEM: A. ANTHOCYANIN: 1 1 = Absent 2 =Present B. WAXY BLOOM: 2 1 = Absent 2 = Present C. HAIRINESS (lastinternode of rachis): 1 1 = Absent 2 = Present D. INTERNODE: 1 (number:5) 1 = Hollow 2 = Semi-solid 3 = Solid E. PEDUNCLE 1 1 = Erect 2 =Recurved 3 = Semi-erect F. AURICLE-ANTHOCYANIN 1 1 = Absent 2 = PresentAURICLE-HAIR 2 1 = Absent 2 = Present 11. HEAD (at maturity) A. DENSITY:2 1 = Lax 2 = Middense 3 = Dense B. SHAPE: 2 1 = Tapering 2 = Strap 3 =Clavate 4 = Other C. CURVATURE: 2 1 = Erect 2 = Inclined 3 = Recurved D.AWNEDNESS: 4 1 = Awnless 2 = Apically Awnletted 3 = Awnletted 4 = Awned12. GLUMES (at Maturity): A. COLOR: 2 1 = White 2 = Tan 3 = Other B.SHOULDER: 2 1 = Wanting 2 = Oblique 3 = Rounded 4 = Square 5 = Elevated6 = Apiculate C. SHOULDER WIDTH: 2 1 = Narrow 2 = Medium 3 = Wide D.BEAK: 3 1 = Obtuse 2 = Acute 3 = Acuminate E. BEAK WIDTH: 2 1 = Narrow 2= Medium 3 = Wide F. GLUME LENGTH: 3 1 = Short (ca. 7 mm) 2 = Medium(ca. 8 mm) 3 = Long (ca. 9 mm) G. GLUME WIDTH: 3 1 = Narrow (ca. 3 mm) 2= Medium (ca. 3.5 mm) 3 = Wide (ca. 4 mm) 13. SEED: A. SHAPE: 1 1 =Ovate 2 = Oval 3 = Elliptical B. CHEEK: 1 1 = Rounded 2 = Angular C.BRUSH LENGTH: 1 1 = Short 2 = Medium 3 = Long BRUSH COLLAR: 2 1 = NotCollared 2 = Collared D. CREASE WIDTH: 1 1 = Width 60% or less of Kernel2 = Width 80% or less of Kernel 3 = Width Nearly as Wide as KernelCREASE DEPTH: 1 1 = Depth 20% or less of Kernel 2 = Depth 35% or less ofKernel 3 = Depth 50% or less of Kernel E. COLOR: 3 1 = White 2 = Amber 3= Red 4 = Other F. TEXTURE: 2 1 = Hard 2 = Soft G. PHENOL REACTION: 3 1= Ivory 2 = Fawn 3 = Light Brown 4 = Dark Brown 5 = Black H. SEED WEIGHT44 g/1000 Seed I. GERM SIZE: 2 1 = Small 2 = Midsize 3 = Large 14.DISEASE: (0 = Not tested 1 = Susceptible 2 = Resistant 3 = Intermediate4 = Tolerant) SPECIFIC RACE OR STRAIN TESTED Stem Rust (Pucciniagraminis f. sp. tritici): 0 Stripe Rust (Puccinia striiformis): 2 TanSpot (Pyrenophora tritici-repentis): 3  Field races Halo Spot(Selenophoma donaci): 0 Septoria nodorum (Glume Blotch): 3  Field racesSeptoria avenae (Speckled Leaf Disease): 0 Septoria tritici (SpeckledLeaf Blotch): 3  Field races Scab (Fusarium spp.): 1 Leaf Rust (Pucciniarecondite f.sp.tritici): 2  Field races Loose Smut (Ustilago tritici): 0Flag Smut (Urocystis agropyri): 0 Common Bunt (Tilletia tritici or T.laevis): 0 Dwarf Bunt (Tilletia controvers): 0 Karnal Bunt (Tilletiaindica): 0 Powdery Mildew (erysiphe graminis f.sp. tritici): 3  Fieldraces “Snow Molds”: 0 “Black Point” (Kernel Smudge): 0 Barley YellowDwarf Virus (BYDV): 0 Soilborne Mosaic Virus (SBMV): 1  Field racesWheat Yellow (Spindle Streak) Mosaic Virus: 3  Field races Wheat StreakMosaic Virus (WSMV): 0 Common Root Rot (Fusarium, Cochliobolus, andBipolaris spp.): 0 Rhizoctonia Root Rot (Rhizoctonia solani): 0 BlackChaff (Xanthomonas campestris pv. translucens): 0 Bacterial Leaf Blight(pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae): 0 15. INSECT: (0 = Not tested 1 =Susceptible 2 = Resistant 3 = Intermediate 4 = Tolerant Hessian Fly(Mayetiola destructor): 1  Biotype E Stem Sawfly (Cephus spp.): 0 CerealLeaf Beetle (Oulema melanopa): 0 Russian Aphid (Diuraphis noxia): 0Greenbug (schizaphis graminum): 0 Aphids: 0 For more information ondescriptive factors see “Objective Description of Variety Wheat(Triticum supp.)” which is a part of “Application for Plant VarietyProtection Certificate” distributed by U.S. Department of Agriculture,Agricultural Marketing Service, Science and Technology, Plant VarietyProtection Office, Beltsville MD 20705. All colors are defined usingMunsell Color Charts for Plant Tissues.

Further Embodiments of the Invention

Further reproduction of the wheat variety 26R87 can occur by tissueculture and regeneration. Tissue culture of various tissues of wheat andregeneration of plants therefrom is well known and widely published. Areview of various wheat tissue culture protocols can be found in “InVitro Culture of Wheat and Genetic Transformation-Retrospect andProspect” by Maheshwari et al. (Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences,14(2): pp 149-178, 1995). Thus, another aspect of this invention is toprovide cells which upon growth and differentiation produce wheat plantscapable of having the physiological and morphological characteristics ofwheat variety 26R87.

As used herein, the term plant parts includes plant protoplasts, plantcell tissue cultures from which wheat plants can be regenerated, plantcalli, plant clumps, and plant cells that are intact in plants or partsof plants, such as embryos, pollen, ovules, pericarp, seed, flowers,florets, heads, spikes, leaves, roots, root tips, anthers, and the like.

The advent of new molecular biological techniques has allowed theisolation and characterization of genetic elements with specificfunctions, such as encoding specific protein products. Scientists in thefield of plant biology developed a strong interest in engineering thegenome of plants to contain and express foreign genetic elements, oradditional, or modified versions of native or endogenous geneticelements in order to alter the traits of a plant in a specific manner.Any DNA sequences, whether from a different species or from the samespecies, that are inserted into the genome using transformation arereferred to herein collectively as “transgenes”. Over the last fifteento twenty years several methods for producing transgenic plants havebeen developed, and the present invention, in particular embodiments,also relates to transformed versions of the wheat variety 26R87.

Numerous methods for plant transformation have been developed, includingbiological and physical, plant transformation protocols. See, forexample, Miki et al., “Procedures for Introducing Foreign DNA intoPlants” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Glick,B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, 1993) pages67-88. In addition, expression vectors and in vitro culture methods forplant cell or tissue transformation and regeneration of plants areavailable. See, for example, Gruber et al., “Vectors for PlantTransformation” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology,Glick, B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton,1993) pages 89-119.

The most prevalent types of plant transformation involve theconstruction of an expression vector. Such a vector comprises a DNAsequence that contains a gene under the control of or operatively linkedto a regulatory element, for example a promoter. The vector may containone or more genes and one or more regulatory elements.

Various genetic elements can be introduced into the plant genome usingtransformation. These elements include but are not limited to genes;coding sequences; inducible, constitutive, and tissue specificpromoters; enhancing sequences; and signal and targeting sequences.

A genetic trait which has been engineered into a particular wheat plantusing transformation techniques, could be moved into another line usingtraditional breeding techniques that are well known in the plantbreeding arts. For example, a backcrossing approach could be used tomove a transgene from a transformed wheat plant to an elite wheatvariety and the resulting progeny would comprise a transgene. As usedherein, “crossing” can refer to a simple X by Y cross, or the process ofbackcrossing, depending on the context. The term “breeding cross”excludes the processes of selfing or sibbing.

With transgenic plants according to the present invention, a foreignprotein can be produced in commercial quantities. Thus, techniques forthe selection and propagation of transformed plants, which are wellunderstood in the art, yield a plurality of transgenic plants which areharvested in a conventional manner, and a foreign protein then can beextracted from a tissue of interest or from total biomass. Proteinextraction from plant biomass can be accomplished by known methods whichare discussed, for example, by Heney and Orr, Anal. Biochem. 114: 92-6(1981).

According to a preferred embodiment, the transgenic plant provided forcommercial production of foreign protein is a wheat plant. In anotherpreferred embodiment, the biomass of interest is seed. A genetic map canbe generated, primarily via conventional RFLP, PCR, and SSR analysis,which identifies the approximate chromosomal location of the integratedDNA molecule. For exemplary methodologies in this regard, see Glick andThompson, METHODS IN PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY 269-284(CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1993). Map information concerning chromosomallocation is useful for proprietary protection of a subject transgenicplant. If unauthorized propagation is undertaken and crosses made withother germplasm, the map of the integration region can be compared tosimilar maps for suspect plants, to determine if the latter have acommon parentage with the subject plant. Map comparisons would involvehybridizations, RFLP, PCR, SSR and sequencing, all of which areconventional techniques.

Likewise, by means of the present invention, agronomic genes can beexpressed in transformed plants. More particularly, plants can begenetically engineered to express various phenotypes of agronomicinterest. Through the transformation of wheat the expression of genescan be modulated to enhance disease resistance, insect resistance,herbicide resistance, water stress tolerance and agronomic traits aswell as grain quality traits. Transformation can also be used to insertDNA sequences which control or help control male-sterility. DNAsequences native to wheat as well as non-native DNA sequences can betransformed into wheat and used to modulate levels of native ornon-native proteins. Anti-sense technology, various promoters, targetingsequences, enhancing sequences, and other DNA sequences can be insertedinto the wheat genome for the purpose of modulating the expression ofproteins. Exemplary genes implicated in this regard include, but are notlimited to, those categorized below.

1. Genes that Confer Resistance to Pests or Disease and that Encode:

(A) Plant disease resistance genes. Plant defenses are often activatedby specific interaction between the product of a disease resistance gene(R) in the plant and the product of a corresponding avirulence (Avr)gene in the pathogen. A plant variety can be transformed with clonedresistance gene to engineer plants that are resistant to specificpathogen strains. See, for example Jones et al., Science 266: 789 (1994)(cloning of the tomato Cf-9 gene for resistance to Cladosporium fulvum);Martin et al., Science 262: 1432 (1993) (tomato Pto gene for resistanceto Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato encodes a protein kinase); Mindrinoset al., Cell 78: 1089 (1994) (Arabidopsis RSP2 gene for resistance toPseudomonas syringae); McDowell & Woffenden, (2003) Trends Biotechnol.21(4): 178-83 and Toyoda et al., (2002) Transgenic Res. 11(6): 567-82. Aplant resistant to a disease is one that is more resistant to a pathogenas compared to the wild type plant.

Fusarium head blight along with deoxynivalenol both produced by thepathogen Fusarium graminearum Schwabe have caused devastating losses inwheat production. Genes expressing proteins with antifungal action canbe used as transgenes to prevent Fusarium head blight. Various classesof proteins have been identified. Examples include endochitinases,exochitinases, glucanases, thionins, thaumatin-like proteins, osmotins,ribosome inactivating proteins, flavoniods, lactoferricin. Duringinfection with Fusarium graminearum deoxynivalenol is produced. There isevidence that production of deoxynivalenol increases the virulence ofthe disease. Genes with properties for detoxification of deoxynivalenol(Adam and Lemmens, In International Congress on Molecular Plant-MicrobeInteractions, 1996; McCormick et al. Appl. Environ. Micro. 65:5252-5256,1999) have been engineered for use in wheat. A synthetic peptide thatcompetes with deoxynivalenol has been identified (Yuan et al., Appl.Environ. Micro. 65:3279-3286, 1999). Changing the ribosomes of the hostso that they have reduced affinity for deoxynivalenol has also been usedto reduce the virulence of the Fusarium graminearum.

Genes used to help reduce Fusarium head blight include but are notlimited to Tri101(Fusarium), PDR5 (yeast), tip-1(oat), tip-2(oat), leaftip-1 (wheat), tip (rice), tip-4 (oat), endochitinase, exochitinase,glucanase (Fusarium), permatin (oat), seed hordothionin (barley),alpha-thionin (wheat), acid glucanase (alfalfa), chitinase (barley andrice), class beta II-1,3-glucanase (barley), PR5/tlp (arabidopsis),zeamatin (maize), type 1 RIP (barley), NPR1 (arabidopsis), lactoferrin(mammal), oxalyl-CoA-decarboxylase (bacterium), IAP (baculovirus), ced-9(C. elegans), and glucanase (rice and barley).

(B) A gene conferring resistance to a pest, such as Hessian fly, wheat,stem soft fly, cereal leaf beetle, and/or green bug. For example the H9,H10, and H21 genes.

(C) A gene conferring resistance to disease, including wheat rusts,septoria tritici, septoria nodorum, powdery mildew, helminthosporiumdiseases, smuts, bunts, fusarium diseases, bacterial diseases, and viraldiseases.

(D) A Bacillus thuringiensis protein, a derivative thereof or asynthetic polypeptide modeled thereon. See, for example, Geiser et al.,Gene 48: 109 (1986), who disclose the cloning and nucleotide sequence ofa Bt delta-endotoxin gene. Moreover, DNA molecules encodingdelta-endotoxin genes can be purchased from American Type CultureCollection (Rockville, Md.), for example, under ATCC Accession Nos.40098, 67136, 31995 and 31998. Other examples of Bacillus thuringiensistransgenes being genetically engineered are given in the followingpatents and patent applications and hereby are incorporated by referencefor this purpose: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,188,960; 5,689,052; 5,880,275; WO91/14778; WO 99/31248; WO 01/12731; WO 99/24581; WO 97/40162 and U.S.application Ser. Nos. 10/032,717; 10/414,637; and 10/606,320.

(E) An insect-specific hormone or pheromone such as an ecdysteroid andjuvenile hormone, a variant thereof, a mimetic based thereon, or anantagonist or agonist thereof. See, for example, the disclosure byHammock et al., Nature 344: 458 (1990), of baculovirus expression ofcloned juvenile hormone esterase, an inactivator of juvenile hormone.

(F) An insect-specific peptide which, upon expression, disrupts thephysiology of the affected pest. For example, see the disclosures ofRegan, J. Biol. Chem. 269: 9 (1994) (expression cloning yields DNAcoding for insect diuretic hormone receptor); Pratt et al., Biochem.Biophys. Res. Comm. 163: 1243 (1989) (an allostatin is identified inDiploptera puntata); Chattopadhyay et al. (2004) Critical Reviews inMicrobiology 30 (1): 33-54 2004; Zjawiony (2004) J Nat Prod 67 (2):300-310; Carlini & Grossi-de-Sa (2002) Toxicon, 40 (11): 1515-1539;Ussuf et al. (2001) Curr Sci. 80 (7): 847-853; and Vasconcelos &Oliveira (2004) Toxicon 44 (4): 385-403. See also U.S. Pat. No.5,266,317 to Tomalski et al., who disclose genes encodinginsect-specific toxins.

(G) An enzyme responsible for an hyperaccumulation of a monterpene, asesquiterpene, a steroid, hydroxamic acid, a phenylpropanoid derivativeor another non-protein molecule with insecticidal activity.

(H) An enzyme involved in the modification, including thepost-translational modification, of a biologically active molecule; forexample, a glycolytic enzyme, a proteolytic enzyme, a lipolytic enzyme,a nuclease, a cyclase, a transaminase, an esterase, a hydrolase, aphosphatase, a kinase, a phosphorylase, a polymerase, an elastase, achitinase and a glucanase, whether natural or synthetic. See PCTApplication No. WO 93/02197 in the name of Scott et al., which disclosesthe nucleotide sequence of a callase gene. DNA molecules which containchitinase-encoding sequences can be obtained, for example, from the ATCCunder Accession Nos. 39637 and 67152. See also Kramer et al., InsectBiochem. Molec. Biol. 23: 691 (1993), who teach the nucleotide sequenceof a cDNA encoding tobacco hookworm chitinase, and Kawalleck et al.,Plant Molec. Biol. 21: 673 (1993), who provide the nucleotide sequenceof the parsley ubi4-2 polyubiquitin gene, U.S. application Ser. Nos.10/389,432, 10/692,367, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,563,020.

(I) A molecule that stimulates signal transduction. For example, see thedisclosure by Botella et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 24: 757 (1994), ofnucleotide sequences for mung bean calmodulin cDNA clones, and Griess etal., Plant Physiol. 104: 1467 (1994), who provide the nucleotidesequence of a maize calmodulin cDNA clone.

(J) A hydrophobic moment peptide. See PCT Application No. WO 95/16776and U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,852 (disclosure of peptide derivatives ofTachyplesin which inhibit fungal plant pathogens) and PCT ApplicationNo. WO 95/18855 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,914) (teaches syntheticantimicrobial peptides that confer disease resistance).

(K) A membrane permease, a channel former or a channel blocker. Forexample, see the disclosure by Jaynes et al., Plant Sci. 89: 43 (1993),of heterologous expression of a cecropin-beta lytic peptide analog torender transgenic tobacco plants resistant to Pseudomonas solanacearum.

(L) A viral-invasive protein or a complex toxin derived therefrom. Forexample, the accumulation of viral coat proteins in transformed plantcells imparts resistance to viral infection and/or disease developmenteffected by the virus from which the coat protein gene is derived, aswell as by related viruses. See Beachy et al., Ann. Rev. Phytopathol.28: 451 (1990). Coat protein-mediated resistance has been conferred upontransformed plants against alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus,tobacco streak virus, potato virus X, potato virus Y, tobacco etchvirus, tobacco rattle virus and tobacco mosaic virus. Id.

(M) An insect-specific antibody or an immunotoxin derived therefrom.Thus, an antibody targeted to a critical metabolic function in theinsect gut would inactivate an affected enzyme, killing the insect. Cf.Taylor et al., Abstract #497, SEVENTH INT'L SYMPOSIUM ON MOLECULARPLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1994) (enzymaticinactivation in transgenic tobacco via production of single-chainantibody fragments).

(N) A virus-specific antibody. See, for example, Tavladoraki et al.,Nature 366: 469 (1993), who show that transgenic plants expressingrecombinant antibody genes are protected from virus attack.

(O) A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a pathogenor a parasite. Thus, fungal endo alpha-1,4-D-polygalacturonasesfacilitate fungal colonization and plant nutrient release bysolubilizing plant cell wall homo-alpha-1,4-D-galacturonase. See Lamb etal., Bio/Technology 10: 1436 (1992). The cloning and characterization ofa gene which encodes a bean endopolygalacturonase-inhibiting protein isdescribed by Toubart et al., Plant J. 2: 367 (1992).

(P) A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a plant. Forexample, Logemann et al., Bio/Technology 10: 305 (1992), have shown thattransgenic plants expressing the barley ribosome-inactivating gene havean increased resistance to fungal disease.

(Q) Genes involved in the Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) Responseand/or the pathogenesis related genes. Briggs, S., Current Biology,5(2):128-131 (1995), Pieterse & Van Loon (2004) Curr. Opin. Plant Bio.7(4):456-64 and Somssich (2003) Cell 113(7):815-6.

(R) Antifungal genes (Cornelissen and Melchers, Pl. Physiol.101:709-712, (1993) and Parijs et al., Planta 183:258-264, (1991) andBushnell et al., Can. J. of Plant Path. 20(2):137-149 (1998). Also seeU.S. application Ser. No. 09/950,933.

(S) Detoxification genes, such as for fumonisin, beauvericin,moniliformin and zearalenone and their structurally related derivatives.For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,931.

(T) Cystatin and cysteine proteinase inhibitors. See U.S. applicationSer. No. 10/947,979.

(U) Defensin genes. See WO03000863 and U.S. application Ser. No.10/178,213.

(V) Genes conferring resistance to nematodes. See WO 03/033651 and Urwinet al., Planta 204:472-479 (1998), Williamson (1999) Curr Opin PlantBio. 2(4):327-31.

2. Genes that Confer Resistance to a Herbicide, for Example:

(A) Acetohydroxy acid synthase, which has been found to make plants thatexpress this enzyme resistant to multiple types of herbicides, has beenintroduced into a variety of plants (see, e.g., Hattori et al. (1995)Mol Gen Genet 246:419). Other genes that confer tolerance to herbicidesinclude: a gene encoding a chimeric protein of rat cytochrome P4507A1and yeast NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (Shiota et al. (1994)Plant Physiol 106:17), genes for glutathione reductase and superoxidedismutase (Aono et al. (1995) Plant Cell Physiol 36:1687, and genes forvarious phosphotransferases (Datta et al. (1992) Plant Mol Biol 20:619).

(B) A herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem, such as animidazolinone or a sulfonylurea. Exemplary genes in this category codefor mutant ALS and AHAS enzyme as described, for example, by Lee et al.,EMBO J. 7: 1241 (1988), and Miki et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 80: 449(1990), respectively. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,605,011; 5,013,659;5,141,870; 5,767,361; 5,731,180; 5,304,732; 4,761,373; 5,331,107;5,928,937; and 5,378,824; and international publication WO 96/33270,which are incorporated herein by reference for this purpose.

(C) Glyphosate (resistance imparted by mutant5-enolpyruvl-3-phosphikimate synthase (EPSP) and aroA genes,respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate(phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT) and Streptomyceshygroscopicus phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (bar) genes), andpyridinoxy or phenoxy proprionic acids and cycloshexones (ACCaseinhibitor-encoding genes). See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,835 toShah et al., which discloses the nucleotide sequence of a form of EPSPSwhich can confer glyphosate resistance. U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,061 to Barryet al. also describes genes encoding EPSPS enzymes. See also U.S. Pat.Nos. 6,566,587; 6,338,961; 6,248,876 B1; 6,040,497; 5,804,425;5,633,435; 5,145,783; 4,971,908; 5,312,910; 5,188,642; 4,940,835;5,866,775; 6,225,114 B1; 6,130,366; 5,310,667; 4,535,060; 4,769,061;5,633,448; 5,510,471; Re. 36,449; RE 37,287 E; and 5,491,288; andinternational publications EP1173580; WO 01/66704; EP1173581 andEP1173582, which are incorporated herein by reference for this purpose.Glyphosate resistance is also imparted to plants that express a genethat encodes a glyphosate oxido-reductase enzyme as described more fullyin U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,776,760 and 5,463,175, which are incorporated hereinby reference for this purpose. In addition glyphosate resistance can beimparted to plants by the over expression of genes encoding glyphosateN-acetyltransferase. See, for example, U.S. application Ser. Nos. U.S.Ser. Nos. 01/46227; 10/427,692 and 10/427,692. A DNA molecule encoding amutant aroA gene can be obtained under ATCC Accession No. 39256, and thenucleotide sequence of the mutant gene is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.4,769,061 to Comai. European Patent Application No. 0 333 033 to Kumadaet al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,374 to Goodman et al. disclose nucleotidesequences of glutamine synthetase genes which confer resistance toherbicides such as L-phosphinothricin. The nucleotide sequence of aphosphinothricin-acetyl-transferase gene is provided in European PatentNo. 0 242 246 and 0 242 236 to Leemans et al. De Greef et al.,Bio/Technology 7: 61 (1989), describe the production of transgenicplants that express chimeric bar genes coding for phosphinothricinacetyl transferase activity. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,969,213;5,489,520; 5,550,318; 5,874,265; 5,919,675; 5,561,236; 5,648,477;5,646,024; 6,177,616 B1; and 5,879,903, which are incorporated herein byreference for this purpose. Exemplary genes conferring resistance tophenoxy proprionic acids and cycloshexones, such as sethoxydim andhaloxyfop, are the Acc1-S1, Acc1-S2 and Acc1-S3 genes described byMarshall et al., Theor. Appl. Genet 83: 435 (1992).

(D) A herbicide that inhibits photosynthesis, such as a triazine (psbAand gs+genes) and a benzonitrile (nitrilase gene). Przibilla et al.,Plant Cell 3: 169 (1991), describe the transformation of Chlamydomonaswith plasmids encoding mutant psbA genes. Nucleotide sequences fornitrilase genes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,648 to Stalker, andDNA molecules containing these genes are available under ATCC AccessionNos. 53435, 67441 and 67442. Cloning and expression of DNA coding for aglutathione S-transferase is described by Hayes et al., Biochem. J.285:173 (1992).

(E) Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) is necessary for the productionof chlorophyll, which is necessary for all plant survival. The protoxenzyme serves as the target for a variety of herbicidal compounds. Theseherbicides also inhibit growth of all the different species of plantspresent, causing their total destruction. The development of plantscontaining altered protox activity which are resistant to theseherbicides are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,288,306 B1; 6,282,837 B1;and 5,767,373; and international publication WO 01/12825.

3. Genes that Confer or Improve Grain Quality, Such as:

(A) Altered fatty acids, for example, by

-   -   (1) Down-regulation of stearoyl-ACP desaturase to increase        stearic acid content of the plant. See Knultzon et al., Proc.        Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 2624 (1992) and WO99/64579 (Genes for        Desaturases to Alter Lipid Profiles in Corn),    -   (2) Elevating oleic acid via FAD-2 gene modification and/or        decreasing linolenic acid via FAD-3 gene modification (see U.S.        Pat. Nos. 6,063,947; 6,323,392; 6,372,965 and WO 93/11245),    -   (3) Altering conjugated linolenic or linoleic acid content, such        as in WO 01/12800,    -   (4) Altering LEC1, AGP, Dek1, Superal1, mi1ps, various Ipa genes        such as Ipa1, Ipa3, hpt or hggt. For example, see WO 02/42424,        WO 98/22604, WO 03/011015, U.S. Pat. No. 6,423,886, U.S. Pat.        No. 6,197,561, U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,397, US2003/0079247,        US2003/0204870, WO02/057439, WO03/011015 and Rivera-Madrid, R.        et. al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 92:5620-5624 (1995).

(B) Altered phosphorus content, for example, by the

-   -   (1) Introduction of a phytase-encoding gene would enhance        breakdown of phytate, adding more free phosphate to the        transformed plant. For example, see Van Hartingsveldt et al.,        Gene 127: 87 (1993), for a disclosure of the nucleotide sequence        of an Aspergillus niger phytase gene.    -   (2) Up-regulation of a gene that reduces phytate content. In        maize, this, for example, could be accomplished, by cloning and        then re-introducing DNA associated with one or more of the        alleles, such as the LPA alleles, identified in maize mutants        characterized by low levels of phytic acid, such as in Raboy et        al., Maydica 35: 383 (1990) and/or by altering inositol kinase        activity as in WO 02/059324, US2003/0009011, WO 03/027243,        US2003/0079247, WO 99/05298, U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,561, U.S. Pat.        No. 6,291,224, U.S. Pat. No. 6,391,348, WO2002/059324,        US2003/0079247, Wo98/45448, WO99/55882, WO01/04147.

(C) Altered carbohydrates effected, for example, by altering a gene foran enzyme that affects the branching pattern of starch or a genealtering thioredoxin (See U.S. Pat. No. 6,531,648). See Shiroza et al.,J. Bacteriol. 170: 810 (1988) (nucleotide sequence of Streptococcusmutans fructosyltransferase gene), Steinmetz et al., Mol. Gen. Genet.200: 220 (1985) (nucleotide sequence of Bacillus subtilis levansucrasegene), Pen et al., Bio/Technology 10: 292 (1992) (production oftransgenic plants that express Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase),Elliot et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 21:515 (1993) (nucleotide sequences oftomato invertase genes), Søgaard et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268: 22480(1993) (site-directed mutagenesis of barley alpha-amylase gene), andFisher et al., Plant Physiol. 102: 1045 (1993) (maize endosperm starchbranching enzyme II), WO 99/10498 (improved digestibility and/or starchextraction through modification of UDP-D-xylose 4-epimerase, Fragile 1and 2, Ref1, HCHL, C4H), U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,529 (method of producinghigh oil seed by modification of starch levels (AGP)). The fatty acidmodification genes mentioned above may also be used to affect starchcontent and/or composition through the interrelationship of the starchand oil pathways.

(D) Altered antioxidant content or composition, such as alteration oftocopherol or tocotrienols. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,683,US2004/0034886 and WO 00/68393 involving the manipulation of antioxidantlevels through alteration of a phytl prenyl transferase (ppt), WO03/082899 through alteration of a homogentisate geranyl geranyltransferase (hggt).

(E) Altered essential seed amino acids. For example, see U.S. Pat. No.6,127,600 (method of increasing accumulation of essential amino acids inseeds), U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,913 (binary methods of increasingaccumulation of essential amino acids in seeds), U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,389(high lysine), WO99/40209 (alteration of amino acid compositions inseeds), WO99/29882 (methods for altering amino acid content ofproteins), U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,016 (alteration of amino acidcompositions in seeds), WO98/20133 (proteins with enhanced levels ofessential amino acids), U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,802 (high methionine), U.S.Pat. No. 5,885,801 (high threonine), U.S. Pat. No. 6,664,445 (plantamino acid biosynthetic enzymes), U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,019 (increasedlysine and threonine), U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,274 (plant tryptophansynthase beta subunit), U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,403 (methionine metabolicenzymes), U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,599 (high sulfur), U.S. Pat. No. 5,912,414(increased methionine), WO98/56935 (plant amino acid biosyntheticenzymes), WO98/45458 (engineered seed protein having higher percentageof essential amino acids), WO98/42831 (increased lysine), U.S. Pat. No.5,633,436 (increasing sulfur amino acid content), U.S. Pat. No.5,559,223 (synthetic storage proteins with defined structure containingprogrammable levels of essential amino acids for improvement of thenutritional value of plants), WO96/01905 (increased threonine),WO95/15392 (increased lysine), US2003/0163838, US2003/0150014,US2004/0068767, U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,498, WO01/79516, and WO00/09706 (CesA: cellulose synthase), U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,638 (hemicellulose), U.S.Pat. No. 6,399,859 and US2004/0025203 (UDPGdH), U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,638(RGP).

4. Genes that Control Male-Sterility

There are several methods of conferring genetic male sterilityavailable, such as multiple mutant genes at separate locations withinthe genome that confer male sterility, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos.4,654,465 and 4,727,219 to Brar et al. and chromosomal translocations asdescribed by Patterson in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,861,709 and 3,710,511. Inaddition to these methods, Albertsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,068,describe a system of nuclear male sterility which includes: identifyinga gene which is critical to male fertility; silencing this native genewhich is critical to male fertility; removing the native promoter fromthe essential male fertility gene and replacing it with an induciblepromoter; inserting this genetically engineered gene back into theplant; and thus creating a plant that is male sterile because theinducible promoter is not “on” resulting in the male fertility gene notbeing transcribed. Fertility is restored by inducing, or turning “on”,the promoter, which in turn allows the gene that confers male fertilityto be transcribed.

(A) Introduction of a deacetylase gene under the control of atapetum-specific promoter and with the application of the chemicalN-Ac-PPT (WO 01/29237).

(B) Introduction of various stamen-specific promoters (WO 92/13956, WO92/13957).

(C) Introduction of the barnase and the barstar gene (Paul et al. PlantMol. Biol. 19:611-622, 1992).

For additional examples of nuclear male and female sterility systems andgenes, see also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,859,341; 6,297,426; 5,478,369;5,824,524; 5,850,014; and 6,265,640; all of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

5. Genes that create a site for site specific DNA integration. Thisincludes the introduction of FRT sites that may be used in the FLP/FRTsystem and/or Lox sites that may be used in the Cre/Loxp system. Forexample, see Lyznik, et al., Site-Specific Recombination for GeneticEngineering in Plants, Plant Cell Rep (2003) 21:925-932 and WO 99/25821,which are hereby incorporated by reference. Other systems that may beused include the Gin recombinase of phage Mu (Maeser et al., 1991; VickiChandler, The Maize Handbook ch. 118 (Springer-Verlag 1994), the Pinrecombinase of E. coli (Enomoto et al., 1983), and the R/RS system ofthe pSR1 plasmid (Araki et al., 1992).6. Genes that affect abiotic stress resistance (including but notlimited to flowering, ear and seed development, enhancement of nitrogenutilization efficiency, altered nitrogen responsiveness, droughtresistance or tolerance, cold resistance or tolerance, and saltresistance or tolerance) and increased yield under stress. For example,see: WO 00/73475 where water use efficiency is altered throughalteration of malate; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,892,009, 5,965,705, 5,929,305,5,891,859, 6,417,428, 6,664,446, 6,706,866, 6,717,034, 6,801,104,WO2000060089, WO2001026459, WO2001035725, WO2001034726, WO2001035727,WO2001036444, WO2001036597, WO2001036598, WO2002015675, WO2002017430,WO2002077185, WO2002079403, WO2003013227, WO2003013228, WO2003014327,WO2004031349, WO2004076638, WO9809521, and WO9938977 describing genes,including CBF genes and transcription factors effective in mitigatingthe negative effects of freezing, high salinity, and drought on plants,as well as conferring other positive effects on plant phenotype;US2004/0148654 and WO01/36596 where abscisic acid is altered in plantsresulting in improved plant phenotype such as increased yield and/orincreased tolerance to abiotic stress; WO2000/006341, WO04/090143, U.S.application Ser. Nos. 10/817,483 and 09/545,334 where cytokininexpression is modified resulting in plants with increased stresstolerance, such as drought tolerance, and/or increased yield. Also seeWO0202776, WO2003052063, JP2002281975, U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,153,WO0164898, U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,275, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,547(enhancement of nitrogen utilization and altered nitrogenresponsiveness). For ethylene alteration, see US20040128719,US20030166197 and WO200032761. For plant transcription factors ortranscriptional regulators of abiotic stress, see e.g. US20040098764 orUS20040078852.

Other genes and transcription factors that affect plant growth andagronomic traits such as yield, flowering, plant growth and/or plantstructure, can be introduced or introgressed into plants, see e.g.WO97/49811 (LHY), WO98/56918 (ESD4), WO97/10339 and U.S. Pat. No.6,573,430 (TFL), U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,663 (FT), WO96/14414 (CON),WO96/38560, WO01/21822 (VRN1), WO00/44918 (VRN2), WO99/49064 (GI),WO00/46358 (FRI), WO97/29123, U.S. Pat. No. 6,794,560, U.S. Pat. No.6,307,126 (GAI), WO99/09174 (D8 and Rht), and WO2004076638 andWO2004031349 (transcription factors).

7. Genes that Confer Agronomic Enhancements, Nutritional Enhancements,or Industrial Enhancements.

(A) Improved tolerance to water stress from drought or high salt watercondition. The HVA1 protein belongs to the group 3 LEA proteins thatinclude other members such as wheat pMA2005 (Curry et al., 1991; Curryand Walker-Simmons, 1993), cotton D-7 (Baker et al., 1988), carrot Dc3(Seffens et al., 1990), and rape pLEA76 (Harada et al., 1989). Theseproteins are characterized by 11-mer tandem repeats of amino aciddomains which may form a probable amphophilic alpha-helical structurethat presents a hydrophilic surface with a hydrophobic stripe (Baker etal., 1988; Dure et al., 1988; Dure, 1993). The barley HVA1 gene and thewheat pMA2005 gene (Curry et al., 1991; Curry and Walker-Simmons, 1993)are highly similar at both the nucleotide level and predicted amino acidlevel. These two monocot genes are closely related to the cotton D-7gene (Baker et al., 1988) and carrot Dc3 gene (Seffens et al., 1990)with which they share a similar structural gene organization (Straub etal., 1994). There is, therefore, a correlation between LEA geneexpression or LEA protein accumulation with stress tolerance in a numberof plants. For example, in severely dehydrated wheat seedlings, theaccumulation of high levels of group 3 LEA proteins was correlated withtissue dehydration tolerance (Ried and Walker-Simmons, 1993). Studies onseveral Indica varieties of rice showed that the levels of group 2 LEAproteins (also known as dehydrins) and group 3 LEA proteins in rootswere significantly higher in salt-tolerant varieties compared withsensitive varieties (Moons et al., 1995). The barley HVA1 gene wastransformed into wheat. Transformed wheat plants showed increasedtolerance to water stress, (Sivamani, E. et al. Plant Science 2000, V.155 p 1-9 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,842.)

(B) Another example of improved water stress tolerance is throughincreased mannitol levels via the bacterial mannitol-1-phosphatedehydrogenase gene. To produce a plant with a genetic basis for copingwith water deficit, Tarczynski et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89,2600 (1992); WO 92/19731, published No. 12,1992; Science, 259, 508(1993)) introduced the bacterial mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenasegene, mtID, into tobacco cells via Agrobacterium-mediatedtransformation. Root and leaf tissues from transgenic plants regeneratedfrom these transformed tobacco cells contained up to 100 mM mannitol.Control plants contained no detectable mannitol. To determine whetherthe transgenic tobacco plants exhibited increased tolerance to waterdeficit, Tarczynski et al. compared the growth of transgenic plants tothat of untransformed control plants in the presence of 250 mM NaCl.After 30 days of exposure to 250 mM NaCl, transgenic plants haddecreased weight loss and increased height relative to theiruntransformed counterparts. The authors concluded that the presence ofmannitol in these transformed tobacco plants contributed to waterdeficit tolerance at the cellular level. See also U.S. Pat. No.5,780,709 and international publication WO 92/19731 which areincorporated herein by reference for this purpose.

Numerous methods for plant transformation have been developed, includingbiological and physical, plant transformation protocols. See, forexample, Miki et al., “Procedures for Introducing Foreign DNA intoPlants” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Glick,B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, 1993) pages67-88. In addition, expression vectors and in vitro culture methods forplant cell or tissue transformation and regeneration of plants areavailable. See, for example, Gruber et al., “Vectors for PlantTransformation” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology,Glick, B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton,1993) pages 89-119.

Further embodiments of the invention are the treatment of 26R87 with amutagen and the plant produced by mutagenesis of 26R87. Informationabout mutagens and mutagenizing seeds or pollen are presented in theIAEA's Manual on Mutation Breeding (IAEA, 1977) other information aboutmutation breeding in wheat can be found in C. F. Konzak, “Mutations andMutation Breeding” chapter 7B, of Wheat and Wheat Improvement, 2^(nd)edition, ed. Heyne, 1987.

A further embodiment of the invention is a backcross conversion of wheatvariety 26R87. A backcross conversion occurs when DNA sequences areintroduced through traditional (non-transformation) breeding techniques,such as backcrossing. DNA sequences, whether naturally occurring ortransgenes, may be introduced using these traditional breedingtechniques. Desired traits transferred through this process include, butare not limited to nutritional enhancements, industrial enhancements,disease resistance, insect resistance, herbicide resistance, agronomicenhancements, grain quality enhancement, waxy starch, breedingenhancements, seed production enhancements, and male sterility.Descriptions of some of the cytoplasmic male sterility genes, nuclearmale sterility genes, chemical hybridizing agents, male fertilityrestoration genes, and methods of using the aforementioned are discussedin “Hybrid Wheat by K. A. Lucken (pp. 444-452 In Wheat and WheatImprovement, ed. Heyne, 1987). Examples of genes for other traitsinclude: Leaf rust resistance genes (Lr series such as Lr1, Lr10, Lr21,Lr22, Lr22a, Lr32, Lr37, Lr41, Lr42, and Lr43), Fusarium headblight-resistance genes (QFhs.ndsu-3B and QFhs.ndsu-2A), Powdery Mildewresistance genes (Pm21), common bunt resistance genes (Bt-10), and wheatstreak mosaic virus resistance gene (Wsm1), Russian wheat aphidresistance genes (Dn series such as Dn 1, Dn2, Dn4, Dn5), Black stemrust resistance genes (Sr38), Yellow rust resistance genes (Yr seriessuch as Yr1, YrSD, Yrsu, Yr17, Yr15, YrH52), Aluminum tolerance genes(Alt(BH)), dwarf genes (Rht), vernalization genes (Vrn), Hessian flyresistance genes (H9, H10, H21, H29), grain color genes (R/r),glyphosate resistance genes (EPSPS), glufosinate genes (bar, pat) andwater stress tolerance genes (Hva1, mtID). The trait of interest istransferred from the donor parent to the recurrent parent, in this case,the wheat plant disclosed herein. Single gene traits may result fromeither the transfer of a dominant allele or a recessive allele.Selection of progeny containing the trait of interest is done by directselection for a trait associated with a dominant allele. Selection ofprogeny for a trait that is transferred via a recessive allele requiresgrowing and selfing the first backcross to determine which plants carrythe recessive alleles. Recessive traits may require additional progenytesting in successive backcross generations to determine the presence ofthe gene of interest.

Another embodiment of this invention is a method of developing abackcross conversion 26R87 wheat plant that involves the repeatedbackcrossing to wheat variety 26R87. The number of backcrosses made maybe 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or greater, and the specific number of backcrosses usedwill depend upon the genetics of the donor parent and whether molecularmarkers are utilized in the backcrossing program. See, for example, R.E. Allan, “Wheat” in Principles of Cultivar Development, Fehr, W. R. Ed.(Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1987) pages 722-723,incorporated herein by reference. Using backcrossing methods, one ofordinary skill in the art can develop individual plants and populationsof plants that retain at least 70%, 75%, 79%, 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%,85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or99% of the genetic profile of wheat variety 26R87. The percentage of thegenetics retained in the backcross conversion may be measured by eitherpedigree analysis or through the use of genetic techniques such asmolecular markers or electrophoresis. In pedigree analysis, on average50% of the starting germplasm would be passed to the progeny line afterone cross to another line, 75% after backcrossing once, 87.5% afterbackcrossing twice, and so on. Molecular markers could also be used toconfirm and/or determine the recurrent parent used. The backcrossconversion developed from this method may be similar to 26R87 for theresults listed in Table 1. Such similarity may be measured by a side byside phenotypic comparison, with differences and similarities determinedat a 5% significance level. Any such comparison should be made inenvironmental conditions that account for the trait being transferred.For example, herbicide should not be applied in the phenotypiccomparison of herbicide resistant backcross conversion of 26R87 to26R87.

Another embodiment of the invention is an essentially derived variety of26R87. As determined by the UPOV Convention, essentially derivedvarieties may be obtained for example by the selection of a natural orinduced mutant, or of a somaclonal variant, the selection of a variantindividual from plants of the initial variety, backcrossing, ortransformation by genetic engineering. An essentially derived variety of26R87 is further defined as one whose production requires the repeateduse of variety 26R87 or is predominately derived from variety 26R87.International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants,as amended on Mar. 19, 1991, Chapter V, Article 14, Section 5(c).

This invention also is directed to methods for using wheat variety 26R87in plant breeding.

One such embodiment is the method of crossing wheat variety 26R87 withanother variety of wheat to form a first generation population of F1plants. The population of first generation F1 plants produced by thismethod is also an embodiment of the invention. This first generationpopulation of F1 plants will comprise an essentially complete set of thealleles of wheat variety 26R87. One of ordinary skill in the art canutilize either breeder books or molecular methods to identify aparticular F1 plant produced using wheat variety 26R87, and any suchindividual plant is also encompassed by this invention. Theseembodiments also cover use of transgenic or backcross conversions ofwheat variety 26R87 to produce first generation F1 plants.

A method of developing a 26R87-progeny wheat plant comprising crossing26R87 with a second wheat plant and performing a breeding method is alsoan embodiment of the invention. A specific method for producing a linederived from wheat variety 26R87 is as follows. One of ordinary skill inthe art would cross wheat variety 26R87 with another variety of wheat,such as an elite variety. The F1 seed derived from this cross would begrown to form a homogeneous population. The F1 seed would contain oneset of the alleles from variety 26R87 and one set of the alleles fromthe other wheat variety. The F1 genome would be made-up of 50% variety26R87 and 50% of the other elite variety. The F1 seed would be grown andallowed to self, thereby forming F2 seed. On average the F2 seed wouldhave derived 50% of its alleles from variety 26R87 and 50% from theother wheat variety, but various individual plants from the populationwould have a much greater percentage of their alleles derived from 26R87(Wang J. and R. Bernardo, 2000, Crop Sci. 40:659-665 and Bernardo, R.and A. L. Kahler, 2001, Theor. Appl. Genet 102:986-992). The F2 seedwould be grown and selection of plants would be made based on visualobservation and/or measurement of traits. The 26R87-derived progeny thatexhibit one or more of the desired 26R87-derived traits would beselected and each plant would be harvested separately. This F3 seed fromeach plant would be grown in individual rows and allowed to self. Thenselected rows or plants from the rows would be harvested and threshedindividually. The selections would again be based on visual observationand/or measurements for desirable traits of the plants, such as one ormore of the desirable 26R87-derived traits. The process of growing andselection would be repeated any number of times until a homozygous26R87-derived wheat plant is obtained. The homozygous 26R87-derivedwheat plant would contain desirable traits derived from wheat variety26R87, some of which may not have been expressed by the other originalwheat variety to which wheat variety 26R87 was crossed and some of whichmay have been expressed by both wheat varieties but now would be at alevel equal to or greater than the level expressed in wheat variety26R87. The homozygous 26R87-derived wheat plants would have, on average,50% of their genes derived from wheat variety 26R87, but variousindividual plants from the population would have a much greaterpercentage of their alleles derived from 26R87. The breeding process, ofcrossing, selfing, and selection may be repeated to produce anotherpopulation of 26R87-derived wheat plants with, on average, 25% of theirgenes derived from wheat variety 26R87, but various individual plantsfrom the population would have a much greater percentage of theiralleles derived from 26R87. Another embodiment of the invention is ahomozygous 26R87-derived wheat plant that has received 26R87-derivedtraits.

The previous example can be modified in numerous ways, for instanceselection may or may not occur at every selfing generation, selectionmay occur before or after the actual self-pollination process occurs, orindividual selections may be made by harvesting individual spikes,plants, rows or plots at any point during the breeding processdescribed. In addition, double haploid breeding methods may be used atany step in the process. The population of plants produced at each andany generation of selfing is also an embodiment of the invention, andeach such population would consist of plants containing approximately50% of its genes from wheat variety 26R87, 25% of its genes from wheatvariety 26R87 in the second cycle of crossing, selfing, and selection,12.5% of its genes from wheat variety 26R87 in the third cycle ofcrossing, selfing, and selection, and so on.

Another embodiment of this invention is the method of obtaining ahomozygous 26R87-derived wheat plant by crossing wheat variety 26R87with another variety of wheat and applying double haploid methods to theF1 seed or F1 plant or to any generation of 26R87-derived wheat obtainedby the selfing of this cross.

Still further, this invention also is directed to methods for producing26R87-derived wheat plants by crossing wheat variety 26R87 with a wheatplant and growing the progeny seed, and repeating the crossing orselfing along with the growing steps with the 26R87-derived wheat plantfrom 1 to 2 times, 1 to 3 times, 1 to 4 times, or 1 to 5 times. Thus,any and all methods using wheat variety 26R87 in breeding are part ofthis invention, including selfing, pedigree breeding, backcrossing,hybrid production and crosses to populations. Unique starch profiles,molecular marker profiles and/or breeding records can be used by thoseof ordinary skill in the art to identify the progeny lines orpopulations derived from these breeding methods.

In addition, this invention also encompasses progeny with the same orgreater yield or test weight of 26R87 and the same or greater resistanceto stripe rust, powdery mildew, leaf blight, or soil-borne mosaic virusof 26R87. The expression of these traits may be measured by a side byside phenotypic comparison, with differences and similarities determinedat a 5% significance level. Any such comparison should be made in thesame environmental conditions.

Performance Examples of 26R87

In the examples that follow, the traits and characteristics of wheatvariety 26R87 are given in paired comparisons with another varietyduring the same growing conditions and the same year. The data collectedon each wheat variety is presented for key characteristics and traits.

The results in Table 2 compare variety 26R87 to varieties 2552, 26R24and 26R61 for various agronomic traits. The results show that variety26R87 had significantly higher test weight compared to all threevarieties. Wheat variety 26R87 also had excellent resistance to leafrust and to stripe rust compared to 2552 and 26R24.

The results in Table 3 show values for the grain quality of variety26R87 and comparison varieties 2552, 26R24 and 26R61. Quality data werecollected from 2002-2005 at Pioneer in Johnston, Iowa and the USDA-ARSSoft Wheat Quality Lab in Wooster, Ohio.

TABLE 2 Paired comparisons of 26R87 during the period 2001-2005. HeadingGrain Test Plant Date Straw Leaf Leaf Powdery Stripe Yield Weight HeightAfter Lodging Rust Blight Mildew Scab Rust SBMV SSMV Variety bu/ac lb/bucm Jan 1 1-9@ 1-9@ 1-9@ 1-9@ 1-9@ 1-9@ 1-9@ 1-9@ 26R87 83.4 59.3 91.9113.4 8.0 8.1 5.8 7.1 5.5 8.9 3.5 5.2 2552 83.3 57.0 93.0 118.8 7.1 5.36.0 6.0 6.5 8.3 6.3 7.5 Locs. 44 44 29 28 5 16 9 4 4 10 2 3 Reps. 87 8555 52 10 34 16 8 8 23 4 5 Prob. 0.780 0.000 0.207 0.000 0.296 0.0000.762 0.404 0.116 0.039 0.058 0.118 26R87 81.9 59.1 91.2 113.2 8.0 8.15.7 7.4 5.4 8.9 3.5 5.2 26R24 79.4 56.1 94.5 116.0 7.1 6.8 4.8 6.7 4.65.3 3.0 5.7 Locs. 48 49 32 33 5 17 11 6 4 10 2 3 Reps. 98 98 61 63 10 3718 13 7 23 4 5 Prob. 0.127 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.296 0.001 0.054 0.0840.182 0.000 0.500 0.225 26R87 73.5 59.2 85.3 109.7 9.0 7.7 5.0 7.4 9.04.3 26R61 68.7 57.7 92.2 112.4 9.0 6.9 5.0 5.4 8.8 7.5 Locs. 16 16 12 131 5 2 6 2 2 Reps. 34 31 22 24 2 10 3 13 3 4 Prob. 0.088 0.000 0.0000.000 0.120 1.000 0.058 0.500 0.144 @ Scale of 1-9 where 9 = excellentor resistant, 1 = poor or susceptible. SSMV = Wheat Spindle StreakMosaic Virus SBMV = Soil-borne Mosaic Virus Data in above tablecollected at locations in Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois,Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, andGeorgia.

TABLE 3 Average soft wheat quality data, 2002-2005. Break Flour FlourFlour Cookie Lactic Sucrose Yield Yield Protein Diameter Acid SRC SRCVariety % % % cm % % 26R87 71.2 37.0  9.1 17.3 113.8 89.5 Years(reps)3(5) 3(5) 3(5) 2(2) 3(5) 2(2) 2552 72.1 43.7  9.6 18.3 100.1 85.2Years(reps) 4(11) 4(11) 4(11) 3(3) 3(8) 2(3) 26R24 68.5 45.2 10.3 17.5110.7 89.1 Years(reps) 4(14) 4(14) 4(14) 3(3) 3(6) 2(2) 26R61 71.3 48.110.1 18.2 116.5 Years(reps) 2(5) 2(5) 2(5) 1(1) 1(1) Lactic Acid SRC =Lactic Acid Solvent Retention Capacity Sucrose SRC = Sucrose SolutionRetention Capacity Quality data collected at Pioneer in Johnston, IA andthe USDA-ARS Soft Wheat Quality Lab in Wooster, OH.Deposit

Applicant(s) will make a deposit of at least 2500 seeds of Wheat Variety26R87 with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Manassas, Va.20110 USA, ATCC Deposit No. PTA-10226. The seeds deposited with the ATCCon Jul. 20, 2009 will be taken from the deposit maintained by PioneerHi-Bred International, Inc., 7250 NW 62nd Avenue, Johnston, Iowa50131-1000 since prior to the filing date of this application. Access tothis deposit will be available during the pendency of the application tothe Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks and persons determined by theCommissioner to be entitled thereto upon request. Upon issue of claims,the Applicant(s) will make available to the public, pursuant to 37 CFR1.808, a deposit of at least 2500 seeds of variety 26R87 with theAmerican Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801 University Boulevard,Manassas, Va. 20110-2209. This deposit of the Wheat Variety 26R87 willbe maintained in the ATCC depository, which is a public depository, fora period of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recent request, or forthe enforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will bereplaced if it becomes nonviable during that period. Additionally,Applicant(s) have or will satisfy all the requirements of 37 C.F.R. §§1.801-1.809, including providing an indication of the viability of thesample upon deposit. Applicant(s) have no authority to waive anyrestrictions imposed by law on the transfer of biological material orits transportation in commerce. Applicant(s) do not waive anyinfringement of their rights granted under this patent or under thePlant Variety Protection Act (7 USC 2321 et seq.). U.S. Plant VarietyProtection of Wheat Variety 26R87 has been applied for under PVPApplication No. 200600213. Unauthorized seed multiplication prohibited.U.S. Protected Variety.

The foregoing invention has been described in detail by way ofillustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding.However, it will be obvious that certain changes and modifications suchas single locus modifications and mutations, somoclonal variants,variant individuals selected from large populations of the plants of theinstant variety and the like may be practiced within the scope of theinvention.

All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in thespecification are indicative of the level of those skilled in the art towhich this invention pertains. All such publications, patents and patentapplications are incorporated by reference herein for the purpose citedto the same extent as if each was specifically and individually restatedherein.

1. A seed of wheat variety designated 26R87, representative seed of saidvariety having been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-10226.
 2. Awheat plant, or part thereof, produced by growing the seed of claim 1.3. A tissue culture of regenerable cells produced from the plant ofclaim
 2. 4. A protoplast produced from the tissue culture of claim
 3. 5.The tissue culture of claim 2, wherein cells of the tissue culture areproduced from a tissue selected from the group consisting of kernel,head, stem, leaves, root, root tip, pollen, ovule, embryo and flower. 6.A wheat plant regenerated from the tissue culture of claim 3, said planthaving all the morphological and physiological characteristics of wheatvariety 26R87, representative seed of said wheat variety deposited underATCC Accession No. PTA-10226.
 7. A method for producing an F1 wheatseed, comprising crossing the plant of claim 2, with a different wheatplant and harvesting the resulting F1 wheat seed.
 8. A method ofproducing a male sterile wheat plant comprising transforming the wheatplant of claim 2, with a nucleic acid molecule that confers malesterility.
 9. A male sterile wheat plant produced by the method of claim8.
 10. A method of producing an herbicide resistant wheat plantcomprising transforming the wheat plant of claim 2, with a transgenethat confers herbicide resistance.
 11. An herbicide resistant wheatplant produced by the method of claim
 10. 12. The wheat plant of claim11, wherein the transgene confers resistance to an herbicide selectedfrom the group consisting of: imidazolinone, sulfonylurea, glyphosate,glufosinate, L-phosphinothricin, triazine and benzonitrile.
 13. A methodof producing an insect resistant wheat plant comprising transforming thewheat plant of claim 2, with a transgene that confers insect resistance.14. An insect resistant wheat plant produced by the method of claim 13.15. The wheat plant of claim 14, wherein the transgene encodes aBacillus thuringiensis endotoxin.
 16. A method of producing a diseaseresistant wheat plant comprising transforming the wheat plant of claim2, with a transgene that confers disease resistance.
 17. A diseaseresistant wheat plant produced by the method of claim
 16. 18. The wheatplant of claim 17, wherein the transgene confers resistance to Fusariumgraminearum through the detoxification of deoxynivalenol.
 19. A methodof producing a wheat plant with decreased phytate content comprisingtransforming the wheat plant of claim 2, with a transgene encodingphytase.
 20. A wheat plant with decreased phytate content produced bythe method of claim
 19. 21. A method of producing a wheat plant withmodified fatty acid metabolism, modified protein metabolism or modifiedcarbohydrate metabolism comprising transforming the wheat plant of claim2, with a transgene encoding a polypeptide selected from the groupconsisting of modified glutenins, gliadins, fructosyltransferase,levasucrase, alpha-amylase, invertase and starch branching enzyme orencoding an antisense stearvl-ACP-desaturase.
 22. A wheat plant withmodified fatty acid metabolism, modified protein metabolism or modifiedcarbohydrate metabolism produced by the method of claim
 21. 23. Thewheat plant of claim 22 wherein the transgene confers a trait selectedfrom the group consisting of waxy starch and increased amylose starch.24. A wheat plant, or part thereof, having all the physiological andmorphological characteristics of the variety 26R87, representative seedof such line having been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-10226.25. A method of producing a wheat plant with increased tolerance towater stress comprising transforming the wheat plant of claim 2, with atransgene encoding mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase or lateembryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins.
 26. A wheat plant with increasedtolerance to water stress produced by the method of claim
 25. 27. Amethod of introducing a desired trait into wheat variety 26R87comprising: (a)crossing 26R87 plants grown from 26R87 seed,representative seed of which has been deposited under ATCC Accession No.PTA-10226, with plants of another wheat line that comprise a desiredtrait to produce F1 progeny plants, wherein the desired trait isselected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicideresistance, insect resistance, disease resistance and waxy starch; (b)selecting F1 progeny plants that have the desired trait to produceselected F1 progeny plants; (c) crossing the selected progeny plantswith the 26R87 plants to produce backcross progeny plants; (d) selectingfor backcross progeny plants that have the desired trait andphysiological and morphological characteristics of wheat variety 26R87listed in Table 1 to produce selected backcross progeny plants; and (e)repeating steps (c) and (d) three or more times in succession to produceselected fourth or higher backcross progeny plants that comprise thedesired trait and all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of wheat variety 26R87 listed in Table 1 as determinedat the 5% significance level when grown in the same environmentalconditions.
 28. A plant produced by the method of claim 27, wherein theplant has the desired trait and all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of wheat variety 26R87 listed in Table 1as determined at the 5% significance level when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions.
 29. The plant, or part thereof, of claim 28wherein the desired trait is herbicide resistance and the resistance isconferred to a herbicide selected from the group consisting of:imidazolinone, sulfonylurea, glyphosate, glufosinate,L-phosphinothricin, triazine and benzonitrile.
 30. The plant, or partthereof, of claim 28 wherein the desired trait is insect resistance andthe insect resistance is conferred by a transgene encoding a Bacillusthuringiensis endotoxin.
 31. The plant, or part thereof, of claim 28wherein the desired trait is disease resistance to fusarium graminearumand the disease resistance is conferred through the detoxification ofdeoxynivalenol.
 32. The plant, or part thereof, of claim 28 wherein thedesired trait is male sterility and the trait is conferred by acytoplasmic nucleic acid molecule that confers male sterility.
 33. Amethod of modifying fatty acid metabolism, phytic acid metabolism,carbohydrate metabolism, waxy starch content, gluten content, or waterstress tolerance in wheat variety 26R87 comprising: (a) crossing 26R87plants grown from 26R87 seed, representative seed of which has beendeposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-10226, with plants of anotherwheat variety that comprises a nucleic acid molecule encoding apolypeptide selected from the group consisting of phytase, stearyl-ACPdesaturase, fructosyltransferase, levansucrase, alpha-amylase,invertase, starch branching enzyme, glutenin, gliadin,mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase and a late embryogenesis abundant(LEA) protein; (b) selecting F1 progeny plants that have said nucleicacid molecule to produce selected F1 progeny plants; (c) crossing theselected progeny plants with the 26R87 plants to produce backcrossprogeny plants; (d) selecting for backcross progeny plants that havesaid nucleic acid molecule and physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of wheat variety 26R87 listed in Table 1 to produceselected backcross progeny plants; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d)three or more times in succession to produce selected fourth or higherbackcross progeny plants that comprise said nucleic acid molecule andhave all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of wheatvariety 26R87 listed in Table 1 as determined at the 5% significancelevel when grown in the same environmental conditions.
 34. A plantproduced by the method of claim 33, wherein the plant comprises thenucleic acid molecule and has all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of wheat variety 26R87 listed in Table 1 as determinedat the 5% significance level when grown in the same environmentalconditions.